You Never Know Where You Really Come From
by Nodakskip
Summary: Cordelia's past life was that of a demon seer? And Xander's the son of Victor Bennett? What the heck was destiny smoking?


**Title:** You Never Know Where You Really Come From

**By:** Nodakskip

**Email:** Nodakskip 

**Beta by:** Theo

**Pairing: **Need you guess?

**Crossover:** Buffy/Charmed

**Disclaimer:** All the references you can recognize belong to their various owners, and any part of the text taken directly from the TV shows belong to the writers in question; only the story belongs to me. And even that is negotiable!

**Summary: **Cordelia's past life was that of a demon seer? And Xander's the son of Victor Bennett? What the heck was destiny smoking?

**Halliwell Manor, San Francisco, CA**

**November, 2004**

**6:35 pm**

The demon seer known as Kira was screaming, as she was engulfed in the fiery and deadly magic of the demon named Zankou. She could feel the fire burning the flesh from her bones, felt the death agony engulf her and then…nothing.

"Wha-?" the brunette suddenly asked, as she looked around. Her confusion only grew as she checked out her skin and clothes, which were all perfectly normal. Not a burn or a mark on them.

"Ah, hello?" Kira asked, worried, as she looked around the simple square room she was now in. "If this is where demons go after they get vanquished…well, I gotta tell you. This may not be the Wasteland, but it still sucks!"

"This is neither the Wasteland nor your afterlife, demon."

Kira whirled around at the voice, and found herself facing a bald man in a brown robe. "Who are you?"

"My name is unimportant," the bald man told her. "Besides, trust me when I say that you have never heard of me."

"I'm a seer, pal. You'd be surprised at all the things I've heard of," Kira replied to that.

"Not really," the man said with a hard look. "Because I know for a fact that you are not omniscient. Now, let's get down to business. The Elders, the Charmed Ones, and even the demon called Zankou all believe that you have been vanquished."

"I know," Kira said, upset. "I was there, remember?"

The bald man, who was known as one of the two Lords of the Host, nodded as he stared at her. "But that's only half the story. I took you from that moment in space and time because you presented me with an opportunity." He came closer as he continued, "I can give you what you want, to be human with a soul."

"Not to sound ungrateful," Kira replied. "But why should I trust you?"

"Perhaps because you have no other choice?" the Lord of the Host suggested. "Elders, Slayers, Watchers, witches, demons, the Source…none of you know what is really behind the thin veil of corporeal existence. My brother and I watch over the realm of Earth; if you wish, you could call me an angel. Even though I'm not one…at least, not one that you've ever heard of."

"Ah, I see," Kira said sarcastically. "All very nice and vague, typical higher being crap. All right, fine, but no one does something for nothing. What do I have to do for you in order to get what you're offering?"

"Oddly enough, nothing. At least not right now," the junior Lord of the Host said, as he waved his hand and Kira's universe went white.

**Sunnydale Memorial Hospital, Sunnydale, CA**

**January 9, 1981**

**2:11 am**

"AGHHHHH!"

"You can do it, honey," the young man told his wife as he held her hand. "Just one more push."

The pregnant woman swore at him before she pushed as hard as she could, trying to deliver her baby. "AGGHHHHH!" Seconds later, she collapsed backwards as she heard the infant crying for the first time.

"You did it, sweetheart!" her husband told her happily. The father looked down at the face of his new daughter. "Welcome to the world, Cordelia Rose Chase."

**Another realm of existence, outside time and space as we know it**

"I see that you have meddled with the mortal plane again, brother."

The Lord of the Host who had spoken to Kira shook his head. "Not at all, brother. We are allowed to do things that will drastically aid the side of Light, after all."

"Without being detected," the other Lord said to that. "You revealed yourself to that demon seer."

"She will never recall that," the junior brother replied.

The more senior Lord of the Host looked pensive. "Very well. Then please explain how integrating that demon seer's essence with the soul of that newly-born human female will aid the side of good?"

"Of course, brother. You see, when she reaches the age of maturity, that particular female will connect with someone who is a nexus of destiny; the one who sees everything, yes. She will become a seer of the highest order. And he will become aware of his true origins, in order to aid the side of Light."

**1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale, CA**

**November 13, 1997**

**8:00 am**

Seven years before the death of Kira, at least in one possible future, two teenagers glared at each other with passionate hatred. They had been trapped in the basement by a demon assassin working for the Order of Taraka, a.k.a. Norman the Bug Man, and tensions had been running high. Now, though, the tensions were boiling over.

"You know what?" Cordelia said as she jumped off the large freezer. "I'm going." When her companion didn't even try to stop her, she stopped and glared at him. "I'd rather be worm food than look at YOUR pathetic face!"

Xander Harris just shrugged. "Then go. I'm not stopping you."

Cordelia looked at him in utter shock and disgust. "I bet you wouldn't. I bet you'd let a girl go off to her doom all by herself!"

"Not just any girl," Xander told her, nodding his head. "You're special."

Miss Chase's anger truly erupted at hearing that. "I can't believe that I'm stuck spending what will probably be my last few moments on Earth here WITH YOU!"

Xander looked as if her voice gave him a headache. "I HOPE these are my last few moments! Three more seconds with you, and I'm gonna..."

"You're gonna what?" Cordelia demanded as she moved close to him. "You coward!"

He shot up from his chair to be nose to nose with her. "Moron!"

She didn't flinch. "I hate you!"

Xander repeated the insult back with equal venom. "I HATE YOU!"

They stared at each other for a long moment; and any disinterested observer would have been ready to see this come to physical blows. But instead, the boy and girl jumped into each other's arms and engaged in a frantic, deep and passionate kiss.

**Chase Manor, Sunnydale, CA**

**Nearly three weeks later**

**4:34 am**

Cordelia twisted and turned in bed, as the lifelike dream played out in her mind. She saw herself in some underground cave area, gazing at some grayish thick liquid. Demons of all kinds, some that made the Chase girl cringe, showed up and demanded to see their futures and pasts. Talk about disgusting...

This had been the fourth time she'd had this dream since she'd kissed Xander Harris in Buffy Summers' basement that day. And it always ended the same way.

A dark-haired man with a beard, burning her alive.

"NOOO!" Cordelia yelled as she awoke, flushed and feverish. Cursing, the brunette got up and went into her private bathroom. Cordelia flinched as the harsh light came on, then she splashed some cold water on her face as she recalled the last moment of the nightmare.

Or last memory of her previous life, call it what you will.

"This has got to be all Xander's fault somehow," Queen C said, as she looked at the redness of her eyes. "Hell, I should have transferred to a nice boarding school in Los Angeles as soon as I saw those damn vampires!" She went back into her bedroom and looked at the open yearbook that showed the class photo of her not-quite-yet-boyfriend. "But instead, I'm stuck in this one-Starbucks town fooling around with that loser?"

Well, Cordy had tried several times to stop seeing Xander in the various utility closets at the high school. But her mouth never agreed with her brain. "Don't come near me" always turned into, "Uhh! Uhh! Oh, God!" and "You stop now and I'll kill you!"

And eventually, their making out had led to sex. She'd lost her virginity to Xander Harris in a broom closet, of all things! Insane but true.

No doubt about it. Having sex with Xander (both at the high school, and a few other places around town) had become like being addicted to crack for her. As insane as it sounded, Cordy simply couldn't get enough of her lover - or at least his penis. And by the way the dork acted when they were alone together; it was the same for him too.

The Chase girl had heard the phrase 'opposites attract'. But she'd always thought it was just a lousy plot device for 1980's teen movies or TV sitcoms. Not her life. Unfortunately however, life did imitate art and nowadays, she was constantly counting down the hours 'til fourth period, when she and Xander met up to do...whatever the urge came over them to do.

/ Why is Xander different to every other guy I've ever met? / Cordelia asked herself, even as her hand automatically drifted down to her crotch. Silently cursing as she fought down the desire to masturbate – good grief, just when had she become a sex-crazed maniac this way? – the cheerleader then thought, / And why am I acting like some desperate idiot eager to please him, whenever we're alone together? I mean, what is it that makes the dorkhead so damn special? It can't just be that fact that he's good in bed, can it? /

She couldn't answer that question; so, shrugging, the girl wrapped herself in her Japanese kimono-style robe and headed down to the kitchen. Deciding to ignore the issue of why she was sleeping with a guy she couldn't stand just a few short months ago, Cordelia took out a teabag and started to pour herself a mug of hot water. She had other concerns right now – like the nightmare she'd just had.

/ What am I going to do? / Cordelia asked herself. Unlike during her waking hours, the demons in her dreams didn't seem to frighten her in the least. Except for the dark one that killed her, she felt boredom more than fear at having to talk to them. Cordy was deep in thought as she leaned onto the granite counter top, but as she went to drop the teabag into the liquid she stopped dead.

An image was starting to form in the water at the top of the mug. "What the hell!?"

Miss Chase was transfixed as the tiny window dissolved to show her bedroom. A hand set down a plain-looking egg onto the desk, it cracked open and then some sort of grey demon-y creature with tentacles jumped out. The last thing Cordy saw, though, was her own face screaming in sheer terror.

**Sunnydale High Library, Sunnydale, CA**

**December 8, 1997**

**7:45 am**

Rupert Giles looked up from his paperwork as the door opened. "Cordelia? A tad early for you to be here, isn't it? You don't have a first period, i-if I recall correctly."

The female teen showed no signs of anything being wrong, well almost. "We had a cheerleader meeting this morning, they still won't get us uniforms that were made during this decade." Cordy rubbed her hands on the short maroon skirt of her yellow cheerleader uniform. "But I wanted to talk to you, since you're the big Knowledge Guy and all."

"Did you encounter something last night?" the Watcher quickly asked.

"No," Cordelia said, annoyed. "God, does everything have to be about vampires and demons with you?"

"Alright," Giles replied, a note of weariness appearing in his voice. "What do you need?"

"Well, my mother wants to see this psychic who says she can see visions and stuff within water," Miss Chase told him, stretching the truth for convenience. "And I just wanted to see if you had anything that debunks that sort of thing. 'Cause the last time my mother saw a psychic, she nearly lost a ton of money on a pyramid scam!"

Giles looked at her, confused. "You don't want to know about anything supernatural, but you want a book about psychics?"

"Well, the kind you'd see on Oprah anyway," Cordelia said with a wave of her hand. "Just gimme something that tells me the differences between the real deal, and like a great big faker."

Giles mumbled something under his breath about American teenagers as he went up to the mezzanine level. He pulled out a dusty tome and brought it to the girl. "This explains the histories and theories of most psychic phenomena."

"Thanks," Cordelia said as she turned to leave.

"Ah, Miss Chase?"

"Yes?" she asked, turning around.

Giles went around the counter. "You have to check it out, this is a library."

Cordelia looked at him funny. "You have the demon-y books in the system?"

Rupert nodded. "I can't control which students come in here, so it's just easier to keep track of the material if something goes wrong."

Cordy came back and set the big book on the counter. "So if someone made a slime monster, then you just have to look up who checked out the slime monster how-to book?"

"Basically, yes," the Englishman replied.

**A different dimension**

**The same time**

The armored mercenary demon known as Skip shimmered into existence in the brightly light cave. He immediately dropped to one knee for the sake of appearances. "Hi, 'master'."

From the shadows a massive creature skittered across the cave floor. When it came into the light, one could see it was a very strange being indeed. A massive arachnid body with eight legs, yet with the head of a black female human. "You have something to report?"

The silver demon nodded as he stood up. "There's a problem with the Mother."

The arachnid stopped dead. "What sort of problem?"

"Well, unfortunately, that girl's not sticking to the game plan," Skip informed her. "For some reason, she's started having sexual relations with her boyfriend. From what I've seen they're using protection, but still."

"That was not meant to be!" the being that would have been known as 'Jasmine' shouted at him. "They were not to engage in that sort of activity! There was to be no risk of a baby being born before our glorious union with the miracle child. The plan has been in motion for almost four centuries, ever since the Grandmother was created..."

"I know, I know," Skip told her, not wanting to hear his boss rehash ancient history AGAIN. "And hey, I tried to nudge her back to where you intended for her to be at this point, but the darn de-lusting spells had no effect on her."

The so-called higher being centered her powers, as she reached out across the dimensions to the Mother. The human being who was being pushed into place to give birth to her in a few years' time – namely, Cordelia. But then a cold feeling came over the fallen Power when she felt…nothing.

"This cannot be," the insect woman said to herself in shock. "I can still feel the Mother's presence, but I cannot achieve any measure of influence over her any longer. Someone or something has ruined my plan with their own power!"

"Who could challenge your power?" Skip asked, unsure.

'Jasmine' reached out with her powers some more, 'til she felt something familiar. "The Lords of the Host. Damn them, somehow they have discovered my intended human vessel. Yet again they try to deny my bringing peace to the human world!"

Skip frowned. "So now what?"

"There's nothing to be done – for now," 'Jasmine' reluctantly admitted. Enraged, she added, "But only for now..."

**Sunnydale High Library, Sunnydale, CA**

**Later that day**

**2:45 pm**

Buffy stopped flipping through the Watcher Diary in front of her when her two best friends came into the room. "Hey, guys."

Willow sat next to her gal pal while placing the egg crate on the table. "Buffy. How come you weren't in class?"

The Slayer sighed. "Vampire issues. Did Mr. Whitmore notice that I was tardy?"

"I think the word you're searching for is 'absent'," Xander informed her.

Willow nodded. "Tardy people eventually show up. And yes, he noticed. So he wanted me to give you this."

Buffy took the offered egg with surprise. "As punishments go, this is fairly abstract."

"No, it's your baby," Willow told her.

"Okay, now I get it even less," Buffy said to that, her confusion growing.

Xander leaned on the edge of the counter while playing with his egg. "You know, it's the whole 'sex leads to responsibility' thing. You gotta take care of the egg; it's a baby, gotta keep it safe and teach it Christian values."

After a moment of looking at her egg, Willow declared, "My egg is Jewish."

"Then teach it that Dreidel song," Harris told her with a smile.

Buffy set the egg down and looked afraid for it. "God, I can't do this...I can't take care of stuff! I killed my Gigapet. Literally!"

"You'll do fine," Willow encouraged her.

"The only thing that stresses me," Xander mused, "is when do we tell them they're adopted?"

Buffy smiled. "I'll just lay it all off on my partner…who'd I get, anyway?"

Willow looked at her sadly. "Well. There were an uneven number of kids - and you didn't show, so..."

"I'm a single mother?" Buffy demanded, eyes wide.

"No man of her own," Xander nodded.

Willow nudged Miss Summers and grinned. "You still did better than Xander, though."

"Oh?" Buffy said, now curious. "Who'd you get, Xan? That German transfer student who hardly speaks English?"

Before Xander could say anything, Willow gushed, "No, worse. You're not gonna believe it, but he actually asked Cordelia!"

"What?!" Buffy exclaimed. "Xander. Why on earth would you do that?"

"Well…" Harris struggled with trying to come up with a valid excuse. "I, I just thought…"

"He was making fun of her, obviously," Willow said to the Slayer, as the male teen secretly sighed in relief. "You should have seen her expression, Buffy, it was priceless! Cordy was too stunned to come up with any sort of comeback. I almost laughed directly in her face!"

Buffy laughed with her friend. Then she glanced at Harris, "Partnering with Cordelia Chase, though…that would suck beyond words."

Xander just shook his head. "I don't know…she might surprise you. These days Cordy knows what's what, and she's actually helped out a lot this year – like during the feast of St. Vegetables, and when Deadboy got himself shishkabobed in that church. My opinion, she's become a lot more…giving," Harris finished up, thinking just how accurate that statement truly was.

Not only in the high school's utility closets, but in a number of anonymous motel rooms and during one memorable occasion, the furthermost back row of Sun Cinema; the young woman bouncing up and down on his lap during the movie, which had caused some other adventurous couples to risk getting caught having sex as well.

Both Willow and Buffy laughed in response to Xander's last statement, even though they wouldn't have if they'd known what he was thinking right now. The laughter died, however, when Giles came over with yet another old book. When he set it down, it showed an old photograph of two men in cowboy garb.

The Watcher said, "Lyle Gorch. The other one is his brother Tector. They're from Abilene, made their reputation massacring a Mexican village in 1886."

Buffy cringed at that, recognizing the vampire version of Lyle from their recent encounter at the mall. "Friendly little demons..."

"That was before they became vampires, actually," Giles informed her. Off their looks he added, "The good news is they're not among the greatest thinkers of our time. I doubt they're up to much; they were probably just drawn here by the Hellmouth's energy. It should be easy to…"

Giles trailed off, as he noticed something. "Excuse me, but why do you all have eggs?"

Any explanation that would have come from the teenage trio was cut off when Cordelia stormed into the library, the doors slamming open with a loud bang. She marched right up to Xander and said, "The egg, give it to me!"

"Isn't it a horrible thing when the parents fight?" Buffy joked to Willow.

Cordelia looked at her with a frown. "Ah, you made a joke. Did you happen to fry your two remaining brain cells to come up with that one?"

"Hey!" Buffy said to that.

But Cordelia ignored her as she held out her hand. "The egg, Xander, now!"

Xander shrugged and gave it to her. "I was thinking maybe Carl for a name, or maybe Billy Bob…ah, Cordy, what are you doing?"

Cordelia set the egg on the floor and grabbed one of Giles' books of the counter. "This had better not get on my shoes," she remarked acidly, before the girl slammed the book down hard on the egg.

"Hey!" Xander grabbed her arm, instantly pissed. "That was my passing grade in Biology right there, and I kind of needed an easy A!"

Cordelia yanked her arm away and said, "Hey, Giles, over here."

"Cordelia," Giles stormed over. "That book is very old and…" He stopped when Cordelia flipped the book over. "Oh my word!"

"What the hell is that thing?!" Xander demanded as he jumped back.

Giles leaned down and examined the squished Bezoar infant. "I, I'm honestly not sure. A Hyrws class of demon, perhaps."

Buffy looked over. "That thing was in your egg?" She and Willow shared a look before they jumped back from the table, and their own eggs. "Ewww!"

Giles ran to the book cage and grabbed a clear plastic case. "Quickly, put the other eggs in here."

Buffy complied and quickly cringed when one egg started to crack once the case cover was closed. "Why the hell would there be demons in the egg babies?"

Xander said, "Uh, guys, something occurring...what are we going to do if it hatches and, and, and tries to eat our brains?"

Both Giles and the girls resisted the temptation to roll their eyes, as they all watched the Bezoar demon eggs. A tentacle finally burst forth from the egg that had started to crack, and so Buffy reacted without thinking. Grabbing Giles' book, she yanked the plastic cover off and bashed both eggs with the book, making her Watcher want to howl in pain over how his precious volume got even more demon goop on it.

"Well, I-I'd say they're slayed," Willow said hesitantly.

"Heck, yeah," Xander nodded, inspecting the hatchling. "Guys, we gotta do something about the rest of those eggs, right? I mean, Mr. Whitmore handed out lots of these things to everyone in class..."

"On it," Buffy was already on the move. "Will, get on the computer – get me a list of all the people who might have received one of those things!"

As the redheaded girl swung into gear and Buffy followed her to the computer terminal, Giles stared at Cordelia for a moment, wondering if she'd known beforehand that the egg had contained a demon. An idea came to him about Cordelia having a vision about it, since she'd been asking about that book on seers and psychics earlier on. But then Giles quickly dismissed that notion; the spoiled princess was the last person he'd suspect of being capable of something like that.

But Xander was not so quick to reject it out of hand. While Giles and his two best buds were on the computer he pulled Cordelia into the stacks and said, "Okay, I'm game. How'd you know about the egg? And don't tell me it was just a lucky guess or anything like that, honey. 'Cause I'm sure you knew, right from the start!"

Cordy looked at him, as if debating with herself over whether to tell him the truth. Wariness and faith in her paramour struggled with one another on her face for a while, before trust won out and Cordelia finally admitted, "I, I, I had a...I saw one of them, Xander. I saw it hatch, and I…I saw myself screaming when it happened. I had a…well, a psychic vision about it."

"You had a WHAT?" Xander demanded.

"I told you, I had a vision about it!" Miss Chase snapped out, instantly looking annoyed. "I was making a cup of tea last night – well, actually it was about four-thirty this morning – and I saw it on the surface of the water, plain as day. I saw what would happen to me when it was my turn to look after that damn egg tonight. I couldn't believe it at first, but then I got a book from Giles about psychic stuff – and it said in there that some seers use liquid to 'see' things..."

"YOU had a vision thing?" Xander was obviously finding it hard to get past that part of it.

"YES, I had a vision thing!" Cordy hissed at him, and then quickly lowered her voice out of fear that someone would overhear them. "Listen, I don't want anyone else to know, okay? This has got to stay strictly between us, understand?"

Xander immediately disagreed, just as she'd expected he would. "What? No way! We gotta tell Giles, and I mean Buffy has to know-"

"Buffy has to know? Why does SHE have to know?" the vision girl interrupted savagely. "What the hell has this got to do with her, Xander? Tell me."

"Well, she – I mean, Buffy's the Slayer!" Harris pointed out the obvious.

"Yeah, and so she stabs vampires with a pointy stick. All the while constantly complaining that the job is hell on her social life. So what? What does that have to do with me having a vision of some grey snot demon inside an egg from Biology class?"

"I-"

"Oh, spare me, you loser dweeb!" Miss Chase interrupted him harshly. "The truth is, you just automatically assume that the freakazoid has to know about everything, including this. But as far as I'm concerned, she DOESN'T need to know. And neither do Willow or Giles! I mean what are they gonna do if they find out, just look at me funny and maybe let it slip out at the worst possible time?"

"I-" Xander tried to say something, but again he was harshly cut off.

"No. This is gonna stay secret, you understand? One peep out of you, and I'm cutting you off! As in, you and your hand would have to make do together for a LONG time," Cordelia said threateningly, all the while wondering whether she was actually capable of withholding sex from her significant other any longer. "Hell, the only reason I told you is because you're my boyfriend!"

"I am? Since when? I mean, are you...you're finally ready to take our relationship out of the closet?" Xander asked her, eyes wide.

"I...soon," Cordelia said evasively. But then she got a hard look in her eyes. "And is that what you really think of me? That I gave myself to you just for laughs, that I had sex with you just because I'm the town bicycle or whatever? Thanks a lot, you asshole!"

"NO! I...oh, God," Xander started floundering badly. Their sexual relationship was something he was still struggling to come to grips with, actually, ever since that first earth-shattering occasion when Cordy had thrown him into that utility closet and then made a man out of him. "I'm sorry, Cor, I-I didn't mean...okay, look. If I apologize from now 'til Christmas, will you please forgive me?"

"I'll think about it," Miss Chase said coolly, even if on the inside she was exulting at being able to manipulate her guy into doing what she wanted. But at the same time, the young woman was glad she wouldn't have to hold out where the sex was concerned; because much like a smoker craving a nicotine fix, Cordy was pretty sure she wouldn't have been able to remain celibate for long.

"All right, let's go join your loser friends out there, I'm sure they're wondering where you are by now. And remember, not one word to anybody – or else I'll dump your ass so fast, you won't even have time to say 'I'm sorry' again!"

**Sunnydale High Library, Sunnydale, CA**

**December 9, 1997**

**7:53 am**

Oddly enough, Buffy, Willow and Giles hadn't missed Xander at all whilst he and Cordelia had been talking in the stacks. After getting the class list, the Watcher had sent the Slayer and the hacker off to check on the other eggs. The girls had eventually come back and told him that all the other students had vanished and that they couldn't find the teacher either. So with nothing else for it, Rupert had sent Buffy out on patrol with Angel after sundown whilst he and Willow had settled in for an all-night research session.

"Morning, England – Willow? What are you doing here this early in the morning?" the woman known as Jenny Calendar, or Janna of the Kalderash tribe of gypsies, said as she came into Slayer Central. Then the dark-haired computer teacher's features became concerned, "Oh no, is there an apocalypse going on that I should know about?"

"Err…no, no," Giles tried to straighten his clothes as he got up self-consciously. "Nothing quite that bad, anyway."

"Ms. Calendar?" Willow said blearily, having just woken up from an exhausted sleep. "Oh no! I forgot to call home, my parents are probably freaking out!" The computer hacker rushed to the phone, and quickly made her excuses to her mom and dad. After she hung up, the Jewish girl exhaled in relief. "Whew – that was lucky, Xander already called 'em for me last night. Oh, where is he?"

Right on cue, Buffy, Xander and Cordelia came into the library as well. "Ah, Buffy, any luck last night?" Giles asked at once.

"Nope, no sign of the Gorches," the blonde Slayer reported, neglecting to say how she most likely wouldn't have seen them anyway during all the kissing and pawing of her undead boyfriend. "Any news on the home front?"

"Mr. Whitmore has teen health during first period, but his car's not in the lot. I checked," Cordelia told her, looking rather irritated at having her quality time with her popular friends interrupted.

"And so we're still at square one with that whole 'demons in the class eggs' thing," Xander said grumpily.

"What?" Jenny asked in confusion. "Demons in the class eggs?"

Giles briefly explained the events of yesterday to her. "I've been searching all night, but I've yet to identify...oh, hang on," he said, as he saw something in one of the books. Rupert flipped through it briefly and said, "Yes, yes, I'd say this is it!" He pointed at a sketch of a disk-shaped, tentacled monster. "It says here, 'Bezoar demon: a pre-prehistoric parasite. The mother hibernates underground, laying eggs. The offspring then attach themselves to a host, taking control of their motor functions through neural clamping'."

"'Neural clamping'? Whatever the hell that is, it sounds skippable to me," Xander grimaced.

"Indeed," Giles mused. "It also says here that the mother and the offspring are connected via that same neural mechanism. So kill the mother Bezoar, and all her offspring will also die."

"Right, so how do we find momma demon?" Buffy looked eager to get into character and slay.

"We should do a locator spell, that'd probably be the quickest way," Jenny suggested.

"Uh, locator spell?" Willow's eyes lit up at the thought of magic.

"I'll do it," Giles looked at her disapprovingly, thinking he should have a conversation with the teenage girl at some point soon about how dangerous magic could be. "Right, let's set up..."

Just then, the first bell of the day rang. "Oh, blast," Giles cursed.

"I've got a meeting with Principal Snyder," Jenny looked at her watch. "And unfortunately I need to go and get prepared for it, or I'll never be able to argue with him for an increase in the school's computer budget."

"And we've got homeroom," Xander looked around at his girls.

"Go. Buffy, meet me back here as soon as possible; hopefully I'll have the location of the mother Bezoar by the time you get back," Giles grunted, as everyone else quickly left the confines of the library and the British man reluctantly grabbed the remains of the hatchling to use as the focus of the scrying spell.

**Sunnydale High Basement, Sunnydale, CA**

**A few hours later**

Buffy, Willow, Xander, Cordelia, Giles and Jenny were all trooping along, the Watcher and the Computer Science teacher having flashlights as they all looked around for any trace of the Bezoar demon. To everyone's great surprise, the locator spell had indicated the creature was almost directly beneath their feet, underneath the school.

"I cannot believe I'm here doing this," Cordelia complained. "Ugh, my shoes are gonna be ruined from all the dust and grime, and Manolo Blahniks don't just grow on trees you know..."

"Cordy. Less talk-y, more look-y, huh? Please?" Xander said in exasperation. "We got us a demon to find."

"Yeah, Cordelia. I mean no one invited you to come along, so if you wanna go back upstairs – feel free," Buffy tossed out, as she examined the floor of the basement.

"Oooh, what's that?" Willow pointed over to the side of the room. She thought she could see something in between a stack of boxes.

"Just a moment," Giles frowned, as she and Jenny gave their torches to the teenagers and started to move the boxes.

Unfortunately, that was the worst possible thing they could have done. Because Mr. Whitmore, who had been neural-clamped by one of the Bezoar offspring the previous night, came out of the hole in the wall which the boxes had been hiding. As he did so he started swinging a pickaxe; and it connected directly with Xander's head. Luckily the sharp end didn't completely embed itself into the boy's skull, but it was enough to knock Harris out and put him down for the count.

"XANDER!" the three girls all screamed in unison, as Cordelia and Willow moved out of the way and Buffy charged forward, ducking the pickaxe and hitting the Biology teacher without pulling her punch at all. Mr. Whitmore flew back, the broken jaw a testament to Slayer strength and he hit the basement wall out cold, collapsing into a heap.

"Oh God, Xander..." Willow babbled as she and Cordelia went over to examine the unconscious teenager. Miss Chase exhaled in relief, "He's still alive!"

"We've got to get him to a hospital," Jenny declared, as she came over to examine Harris as well.

But then, there was a worst-timing-ever moment as the Gorch brothers showed up in the boiler room. "Hello, darlin'. Told you this wasn't over, didn't I?" Lyle Gorch sneered at Buffy.

"Yeah!" Tector said, the other Gorch brother looking at the blonde teen hungrily. "She's so cute. And little. Think we can keep her?"

Then both vampires recoiled from Giles stepping forward with a cross in his hand. "Get back!" the Englishman roared at the two soulless demons. "NOW!"

Buffy didn't waste another second, she charged forward with a stake already in her hand. A sweeping roundhouse kick sent Lyle staggering off to the side, but Tector wasn't so lucky. Unable to get out of the way in time, Buffy punched him in the face before launching her wooden stick directly towards his unprotected chest.

The undead cowboy exploded into dust.

"TECTOR! You bitch, that was my brother!" Lyle shouted in his own special redneck way.

"You're gonna join him soon enough," Buffy promised the bloodsucker, she was in no mood to indulge in pointless quips as she headed towards her enemy.

Now, as Giles had said, Lyle wasn't the greatest thinker of his time, but he wasn't exactly stupid either. The vampire knew that he was badly outnumbered, and facing the Slayer on his own under these circumstances didn't sit well with his sense of self-preservation. So Lyle simply turned around and hightailed it out of there, without another word. Buffy was tempted to chase after him, but her concern over Xander took precedence over that.

The group swiftly broke up into two camps; Willow, Cordy and Jenny took Xander to the hospital, while Giles and Buffy went through the hole in the wall and discovered the lair of the mother Bezoar, terminating the demon with extreme prejudice.

**Sunnydale General Hospital, Sunnydale, CA**

**Later that night**

Anthony and Jessica Harris were talking with the physician named Dr. Backer, and Tony did not appear at all happy with the situation.

Not for the first time, the middle-aged man silently cursed at how his life had turned out. He'd had a promising future when he'd been a teenager, but for a number of reasons – his drinking being chief amongst them – all he had to show for that potential now was a marriage which pretty much existed in name only, and a kid who left the house at all hours of the night and constantly seemed to get into trouble.

"I'm terribly sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Harris," Dr. Backer said, as a colleague of his named Dr. Wilkinson came up to join them. "But I'm afraid that your son's head injuries are very severe, and he's lapsed into a coma. The odds aren't good that he'll ever come out of it, either."

"Well, that's just great," Tony threw his arms up into the air. "What are we supposed to do now? We don't have medical insurance, so how the hell are we supposed to pay for an extended stay in hospital?"

"Tony, for God's sake! Alexander could be dying in the ICU right now, and you're worried about money?!" Jessica snapped at him.

"Well, someone in this family has to!" Tony fired back at her.

"This from the man who's been trying to drink himself to death for the last three years?!" Jessica screamed at him.

"So says the woman who cheated on me way back when, with that one-night-stand!" Tony yelled back at her.

"Oh...that explains it," Dr. Wilkinson finally spoke up, as all heads toward her. She was rather embarrassed by the Harris family dirty laundry being aired in public like this, but nonetheless the woman said to Xander's parents, "I was, ah, just wanting to clear something up, you see – according to our forms, Mr. Harris, you're blood type A, and Mrs. Harris, you're type O. And yet, your son's blood type is B negative? That's not genetically possible," the female doctor explained apologetically.

Tony was able to do the math in his head amazingly quickly. He turned to his wife, who was now looking as white as a sheet. "That means he's not mine, is he? You lied to me all these years, Xander's not my son!"

"Tony, I..." Jessica stammered.

"I should have known," Harris continued reflectively, ignoring her. "The kid never looked anything like me, for starters." Tony looked around at the doctors, who were trying to stay well out of this. "Anything to do with the boy, you people talk to her about it. I'm leaving."

"WHAT? Where are you going?!" Jessica grabbed hold of his arm. "Right now, our son is-"

"There is no 'our son', remember?" Tony yanked his arm away. "Call Xander's real dad if you want a shoulder to cry on. Me, I'm going home to pack my stuff – and you'll be hearing from my lawyer soon enough about the upcoming divorce."

Jessica started weeping, as Tony left and the doctors stepped back in further embarrassment. "Uh, Mrs. Harris-" Dr. Backer started to say.

"No. Don't call me that," the red-haired woman said through her tears. In her mind, Jessica had already abandoned any idea of trying to fix this, as she knew that this was the final nail in the coffin of her sham of a marriage. "Not anymore. Call me either Jessica or Ms. Lavelle, from now on."

"Very well, Ms. Lavelle," Dr. Backer continued. "I was just wondering, would you like for us to contact Alexander's real father? As a blood donor, if nothing else. On account of B negative is one of the rarest blood types around – and our supplies here in Sunnydale are far from unlimited, unfortunately."

"All right," Jessica said distractedly. "Uh, I'm not sure where he lives now, but last time we spoke he was staying somewhere in Oakland...and I remember he said that he has family in San Francisco as well, so you might want to try there."

"And the name?" Dr. Wilkinson started scribbling on her notepad.

"Bennett," Jessica said vaguely. "Victor Bennett."

**Xander's Hospital Room, Sunnydale, CA**

**December 11, 1997**

Willow and Cordelia were at Xander's bedside, watching the unconscious young man with a great deal of trepidation and fear. Buffy had been there recently too, but her mom Joyce had insisted that she come home for a shower and a meal – and since Giles had agreed, the blonde Slayer had reluctantly allowed herself to be dragged away from her friend's sickbed.

"I can't believe this is happening," Willow said through her tears, watching the young man she loved wither away further and further with every passing moment.

Cordelia didn't say anything. After all, what could she say that wouldn't sound hollow and insincere? Before they had started sleeping together, she and Xander had practically been mortal enemies. And even though Cordelia knew that Xander held no romantic feelings towards Willow, she was still insecure enough about their relationship to consider the redhead a possible rival for his affections. Just about everyone at school knew about Willow's lifelong crush on the guy, after all.

Just then, Xander's mom and a guy they didn't know stepped into the hospital room. "Hey, Mrs. Harris," Willow said, rushing to give the red-haired woman a hug.

"Hello, Willow," Jessica sighed, not bothering to correct the girl about her new name. Then she stared at Cordelia quizzically. "I'm sorry, have we met? I…I don't recall your name, unfortunately."

"I'm Cordelia. Cordelia Chase," Cordy said awkwardly. "I go to school with Willow and Xander."

Jessica's eyes widened. "Chase? As in David and Julia Chase's daughter?" It was a small town, after all, and almost everyone knew who the richest family in Sunnydale was. "I, I didn't know you were friends with my son..."

"Uh, yeah, she's been hanging out with us since junior year started," Willow said hurriedly. "Me, Buffy and Cordy are all friends with Xander now!" Ignoring Cordelia's grimace, Willow turned to the middle-aged man who was still standing in the background. "Um, Mrs. Harris, who's this?"

"I'm Victor Bennett," the man said rather stiffly.

"Are you a doctor?" Cordelia asked at once.

"No," Victor said hesitantly, looking at Jessica – who simply nodded once, albeit reluctantly. "Actually, I'm Alexander's dad."

"You're WHAT?!" both female teenagers exclaimed in sheer incredulity, turning to Jessica.

"I, I hope you two won't advertise this about too much, but yes – Victor is Alexander's real father. My son doesn't know," the woman rushed to explain. "None of us did until yesterday, as a matter of fact. And please – don't say anything to Alexander about this if he wakes up, okay? At least, not until I've had a chance to explain everything, somehow."

Willow looked totally blown away by this shocking revelation, but Cordelia just stared at the newcomer with a shrewd and analytical eye. / Hmm, not bad. Yeah, I think I prefer this guy to the man who raised my boyfriend, anyway. /

"What do the doctors say?" Victor stared at the youngest fruit of his loins, the result of a night when he and Xander's mom had gotten completely plastered. He had been drowning his sorrows thanks to missing his ex-wife, and Jessica had been…well, the woman had just wanted to get drunk and forget about her problems at home for a while.

"They said…they said it's unlikely he'll ever wake up," Jessica started to lose it, as Willow tried in vain to comfort her. "Victor, I don't know what to do! Tony left me, and Alexander might die-"

"Hey, he's not gonna die!" Cordelia injected hotly. Then she berated herself for saying that, after all – the seer couldn't exactly explain how she'd had another vision today of Xander and herself celebrating Valentine's Day together in a few months, could she?

"Yeah, uh, it certainly can't hurt to think positive," Victor offered, stealing a glance at the dark-haired girl. "Look, I know some people who might be able to help – Jess, if you don't mind, I think I'll go make a few phone calls. See what I can do to rustle up some assistance."

"You, you know some expert trauma neurosurgeons?" Willow asked in confusion.

"Not exactly," Victor confessed, uncomfortable with the suspicious stare Cordelia was sending him. He stared back at the girl and abruptly noticed how close she was standing by the bed, looking almost protective of his…his son. / Man, that is going to take some getting used to. And yeah, if she's not involved with Alexander somehow, then I'm starting a whitelighter fan club! /

Leaving the room, Victor made his way to the hospital lobby. Grimacing, he then dialed a number in San Francisco. He heard a female voice say, #Halliwell residence.#

"Hello, Penny."

#Victor?# Penny a.k.a. Grams Halliwell's voice sounded very surprised. And Victor had no way of his knowing that his daughter Phoebe was equally surprised as she heard her father's name mentioned, while she was on the upstairs landing of the manor. It would have helped the father of the Charmed Ones remain calm, if nothing else.

Penny's voice then said, #Well, this is unexpected. What do you want?#

"No hello or how are you, huh?" Victor said sarcastically. "Why am I not surprised? No, never mind. Let me speak to Patty, please."

#She's not here at the moment,# was the curt reply. #Now I repeat, what do you want?#

Victor sighed. "Fine, the reason I called is that I need her help. Or even your help, if it comes to that."

#You want MY help?# the grandmother demanded. #Look, if this is something to do with you coming to visit the girls…#

"No, it's nothing to do with them. I just need to get in contact with your whitelighter, or Patty's whitelighter, or anyone who's a member of that collection of back-stabbing pseudo-angels. Ask them to come here to Sunnydale, and save my son's life."

#WHAT?!# Penny's astonished voice could be heard to thunder all the way down the phone line.

"You heard me. Apparently my daughters have a half-brother, believe it or not – I just found out about him yesterday myself," Victor said. "He's in a coma at the Sunnydale General Hospital, and apparently he's beyond the help of…conventional medicine. That's why I called you – well, Patty anyway."

#Victor…# Grams sounded very hesitant now. #I'm sorry, but I don't think we can help you…#

"Why not, you old battleaxe?!" Victor roared, his patience finally exhausted. "Is it because Alexander's a Bennett, but not a Halliwell? We're talking about a young man's life here, someone who could easily have been your grandson – if not for you constantly nagging Patty about the whole witch-mortal thing, and her dumping me for that asshole Sam!"

#Will you kindly let me finish?# Grams sounded very annoyed again. #It's got nothing to do with the boy's parentage, Victor, it's got everything to do with the current circumstances.#

"What circumstances, what are you talking about?"

#Didn't you know? A whitelighter's job isn't to help mortals; it's to help their charges, with or without the witch's knowledge. Someone like that wouldn't be allowed to help your son, even if Patty or I did manage to get word to the appropriate party,# Penny finished up snippily.

"Oh. I see," Victor grumbled. "Well, I guess that's that, then. Goodbye, Penny. And please ask Patty to tell Prue, Piper and Phoebe that I love and miss them. I'd ask you to do it…but then we both know that'd be a complete waste of time, right?"

Without waiting for a reply Victor slammed the phone down, hanging up with a disgusted look on his face.

**Halliwell Manor, San Francisco, CA**

**The same time**

Penny Halliwell, a.k.a. Grams to her four granddaughters, stared at the telephone before replacing the receiver on the hook with a look of great displeasure on her face.

Ever since the 1970's, things had not turned out as they had originally been intended to happen; at least not after the Lords of the Host had gotten involved, and the Angel of Destiny's decisions on a lot of matters had been overruled. For example, Patricia Halliwell hadn't been killed during 1978; her freezing power had failed to work on her whitelighter Sam, who had then saved her from being drowned by a water demon at Camp Skylark.

This in turn had meant that during the 1980's, the witch powers of the Halliwell sisters had remained unbound thanks to their mother's insistence on the matter. Prue, Piper, Phoebe and Paige had thus become adult witches at full power, and had recently vanquished a warlock calling himself Nicholas – someone who had tried to kill their mother back in 1975, while she was pregnant with Phoebe and separated from Victor.

Speaking of which, it was sad how Patricia Halliwell couldn't seem to escape heartbreak and disaster where that man was concerned. After Phoebe had been born Victor and Patty had gotten divorced, in what had been a rather nasty break-up. Penny and her son-in-law had had an argument about his kids constantly being in danger, and when Patty wouldn't back him up, it had been the last straw and he'd left the house in disgust. Later in the year Victor had come back, wondering if he and his ex-wife could possibly reconcile; but seeing Patty pregnant with her whitelighter's baby had quickly killed off that notion. He'd just had a brief meeting with Prue, Piper and Phoebe, promising he'd stay in touch during birthdays and the holidays and what-not.

Too bad for him that Penny, who had been opposed to the mortal man ever becoming part of the Halliwell family in the first place, had intercepted nearly all such gifts and correspondence, out of a firm belief that her granddaughters would be far better off losing all contact with the…sperm donor.

That had also been a big factor in why the relationship between Sam and Patty hadn't worked out either, and Paige had grown up without knowing her own father.

"Mom? What were you just talking to Victor about?"

Penny swung around at the sound of Patty's voice and said swiftly, "Oh, nothing important dear. Your ex-husband just wanted some help on something, but unfortunately for him it's none of our business, and he hung up after I told him that."

Patty sighed. "Mother, I know how much you dislike the guy. But if you don't tell me the truth, I'll just track Victor down, and get the facts straight from the horse's mouth. And then I won't speak to you for a least a week for trying to conceal things from me. Are we clear on that?"

/ Oh, for heaven's sake. When will my little girl ever learn that I'm doing this for her own good?! / Then Penny gave up with a sigh. "Very well, dear. But you'd best sit down, as I'm sure parts of it will be rather distressing for you to hear." Penny quickly guided her daughter to the couch in the living room.

Sure enough, the news that Victor Bennett had a 17-year-old son didn't go down well with Patricia Halliwell at all; she knew that her former husband had always wanted a male heir to carry on his name, and it was a deeply bitter feeling for her to learn that another woman had succeeded in giving him what she had failed to provide in their cursed failure of a marriage. Then Patty pulled herself together, "But surely there has to be something we can do-"

"Like what?" Penny interrupted sharply. "Patty, you know the rules. You and Sam broke them often enough, after all."

Patricia scowled at her mother. "Not helping, mom!"

"Yes, but the fact remains that Sam won't be allowed to help that young man, even if you sweet-talked him into going to the Hellmouth on Alexander's behalf," Grams pointed out. "It's sad, a tragedy even. But as I said, strictly speaking it's none of our business, nor that of any whitelighter. That boy will just have to make do with whatever help the mortal world can give him, and that's that."

Little did Penny Halliwell know that since Phoebe had eavesdropped on her phone conversation with Victor, she was actually wrong about that...

**Prue and Piper Halliwell's residence, San Francisco, CA**

**A short while earlier**

Phoebe and Paige materialized in a cloud of blue-white orb lights within the apartment, instantly shouting Piper's and Prue's names. Needless to say, both Halliwell witches had been completely shocked to learn that they had a half-brother out there, whose existence they'd never even suspected before now.

"PRUE!" Phoebe shouted.

"PIPER!" Paige shouted at the same time.

The older siblings quickly appeared. "What's wrong?" Prue said, looking concerned.

"You're not gonna believe this..." Phoebe said, shaking her head and looking giddy with excitement.

"You, Piper and Phoebe – you have a brother!" Paige finished for her breathlessly, the half-whitelighter still looking amazed at the news.

"WHAT?!" Piper and Prue said in unison, looking shocked

"It's true! Dad called the house, he and Grams talked – and I heard the whole thing. Then I told Paige," Phoebe said, gesturing toward her sister.

"Yeah, and not only that – your brother's in the hospital, the poor kid's in a coma," Paige added. "Victor called asking for help, but Grams turned him down flat, so he just hung up on her. Boy, I never realized until now how they REALLY don't get along!"

"Yeah, well, that's hardly surprising to me," Prue snorted.

"What do you mean?" Paige asked curiously.

Her big sister sighed. "A few months ago, I found some letters between Mom and Victor in the basement – and I confronted her about it, after reading what he had to say. So Mom told me that the guy wasn't a deadbeat dad, it's just that Grams – she confiscated all the letters and presents he sent us over the years, and got rid of them without telling us anything," Prue confessed.

"WHAT?!" Piper and Phoebe looked stunned at this news.

"I can't believe Grams would do something like that!" Paige shook her head, looking equally stunned.

/ Then it's probably a good thing you don't know how she broke up Mom and Sam, after the Elders found out who your father was. / Prue shook her head, trying to focus. "Well, it's true, you can ask Grams about it yourself if you want. And needless to say I got real pissed at both her and Mom, but I decided not to say anything about it to you guys – as I had no idea where Victor was, so I couldn't get ahold of him anyway."

"And now Dad's turned up again, with the big news about the latest addition to the family," Phoebe said, her initial giddiness and excitement having faded a lot by now.

"So, what's our brother's name?" Piper asked semi-dazedly, still trying to wrap her head around the fact that her father had had a child with another woman.

"Alexander. I dunno though if he prefers Alex, or Lex, or even Al. You know, like the song – 'You Can Call Me Al'?" Phoebe said with a small smirk.

"PHOEBE!" all three of her sisters groaned in unison.

Prue then asked, "So what do you guys think, would he be a witch like us?"

"I doubt it. Dad said it himself – Alexander's a Bennett, not a Halliwell," Phoebe shook her head.

"Soooo, that means Leo wouldn't be allowed to help him?" Piper asked, referring to her secret boyfriend, the whitelighter known as Leo Wyatt.

"Yeah, that's what Grams said," Paige sighed, before she smiled. "But hey; half-witch, half-whitelighter here, remember? It's not as if their stupid rules apply to ME..."

**Sunnydale General Hospital, Sunnydale, CA**

**Later that night**

Paige took a deep breath, looking around the deserted corridor, and then she opened the door to Xander's hospital room.

"I've been waiting ages for you to show up, so it's about damn time that you got here!" a female voice barked out angrily at the witch, as she entered the room.

Paige blinked, staring at a brunette who appeared to be around 17 years old. "I'm sorry, uh, who are you?"

"I'm Cordelia Chase, and I'm the person who's gonna kick your ass into next week if you don't hurry up and heal my boyfriend already!" the fashion queen gestured over to where the coma victim was laying.

Paige stared in amazement; she honestly wasn't sure why this girl (whom she had never met before in her life) was threatening her like this. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Oh, cut the crap, will you?!" Cordelia snarled at the Charmed One, who instantly recoiled. "I know you can do this thing where some weird-ass golden light comes out of your hands, which makes Xander wake up! So just get on with it, already!" Cordy had had yet another vision earlier on today, one she was very glad to have received.

Frowning, Paige eventually shrugged and decided to, indeed, just get on with it. But unbeknownst to her, the junior Lord of the Host decided to intervene, as the half-whitelighter started to restore Xander to health. Unseen within the hospital room, the bald higher being (who was as far above the Elders and the PTBs, as they were above the mortals) modified Paige's act of healing to significantly alter Xander on a fundamental level.

"It's done-" Paige started to say, as the golden light vanished from her hands. But then the half-whitelighter vanished in a cloud of blue-white lights that swept up, up and away.

"What the-?" Cordelia said, her eyes going wide. She had no idea what had just happened, and she didn't like that at all. Ignorance could get you killed around here, after all.

/ Huh, / Miss Chase then thought to herself, calming down. / So why didn't I foresee that part of it? No, never mind... / She quickly ran over to her boyfriend's bedside, overjoyed that he had finally woken up. "Xander? Sweetheart, can you understand me?"

Blinking fuzzily, Harris focused on Miss Chase. "Yeah, I...Cordy? What's going on, where are we?"

"We're in the hospital, you dweeb," Cordelia said, relaxing slightly now that the danger was over. "And you had me worried sick for a while there. Well, until I had another of my visions about you waking up, anyway..."

**The realm of the whitelighter Elders**

**A few moments earlier**

Paige materialized within a blaze of blue-white orb lights, and upon seeing the trio of Elders waiting for her – Gideon, Zola and Odin – she immediately grew angry. She could easily guess that that the Elders wanted to have a 'chat' with her about what was and what wasn't permissible for her to do in the mortal world. It wasn't the first time they had done it, after all...

"All right, what's the big idea KIDNAPPING me like this?!" Paige shouted furiously, before any of the higher beings could say anything.

The three Elders recoiled from the force of the young woman's anger. "Paige..." Zola started to say calmingly.

"Don't you 'Paige' me, mister!" the half-whitelighter snarled at him. "Because I'm sick and tired of you people trying to dictate to me what I can or can't do! Hey, in case you didn't notice, I'm NOT one of you. I don't have any charges, I don't show up on any darklighter's radar, and my whitelighter powers are an inheritance from my father – NOT a gift from you stuck-up jerks! So stop messing with me!"

"We wouldn't have to, if you didn't keep using your powers in public willy-nilly like this," Odin said frostily. "Just what did you think you were doing, healing that mortal boy on the Hellmouth?"

/ Hellmouth? / Paige briefly wondered to herself, before she managed to focus. "I decided to save the life of my sisters' half-brother, if that's any of your business!"

"What?" Gideon demanded, looking astonished. "Paige, what are you talking about?"

Exhaling, Paige briefly summarized what she had learned earlier that day. Immediately, the three Elders looked at each other in alarm. Because the prophecy relating to four magical sisters who would be the most powerful good witches ever born contained nothing about a half-brother, and the Elders were now worried – even terrified – that a wild card like this would upset all their carefully crafted plans. After all, the three Elders knew that Xander had already broken – or at least gotten around – the Pergamum Codex prophecy, which had stated the current Slayer would die at the hands of the vampire calling himself the Master.

Plus, even though he wasn't part of Melinda Warren's lineage, this Alexander Bennett might have his own power of some sort. His father was also the father of the Charmed Ones, after all, and the Bennett family had been carefully vetted in order to eventually help create the most powerful witches of all time. But who knew exactly what effect the boy's mother, who was a complete unknown, might have had on Victor's youngest offspring?

"Why are you three looking at me like that?" Paige demanded suspiciously, seeing the expressions on the Elders' faces.

"It isn't often that we get shocked by such unexpected news," Zola said honestly, staring at his white-robed colleagues.

"Indeed. And I don't know about you two, but I've changed my mind – I'd say that Paige did the right thing, just now," Gideon said thoughtfully.

"WHAT?" Paige, Zola and Odin all exclaimed at the same time.

"Well, it can't be mere coincidence that the boy was born and the four of you have become aware of him, at this point in your lives," Gideon said candidly. "It's very likely that Alexander Bennett has a destiny of his own, one that even we have no knowledge of. This will require much careful thought. But again, Paige, please be more circumspect using your powers in the future. If you are exposed, it will be a disaster not only for you and your family – but for all the rest of us as well."

Paige simply made a face at him, before orbing down to the mortal plane once more. The Elders then quickly split up; Gideon returned to his Magic School, Odin sought out the rest of the Elders, and Zola got in touch with Leo to order him to keep a closer watch on his four charges.

Even if that was more or less the equivalent of giving an order to lock the barn door, after the horse had bolted...

**Sunspot Motel, Sunnydale, CA**

**December 12, 1997**

Things had certainly changed since yesterday, here on the town built upon the Hellmouth.

After Xander had awoken, his mom and his biological father had shown up in his hospital room – and the young man had learned the truth about his parentage, as well as the fact that Anthony Harris was now completely out of the picture. It had hurt a lot to know that the man Xander had called 'Dad' all his life had utterly rejected him this way, and without a second thought as well. He had grown somewhat bitter and hostile about the whole thing, until Buffy and Willow had gotten their friend to calm down and make Xander accept the situation for what it was.

Even though the word 'bastard' had assumed a brand new context for him, now.

Another thing that was rather shocking was learning that Victor knew all about the things which went bump in the night. Xander had been VERY surprised to learn that, as well as the fact that he had three half-sisters older than him living in San Francisco. An only child, the boy had wondered all his life what it would be like to have siblings; and now, it would appear that he was about to find out.

"Are they here? Can you see them?" Xander asked for what had to be the hundredth time, as Cordelia look outside the motel room's window.

"No, doofus, I can't," Cordelia said crossly. They were alone right now as Victor and Jessica were waiting in the motel's main lobby, in order to give them some privacy. She then added, "How many times are you going to ask me that? I told you, I'd yell out immediately if I saw your sisters approaching!"

Xander nodded, quickly deflating. "Sorry, Cor. Guess I'm just all keyed up with excitement, huh?"

"Yeah, I can tell. Still, I know what'll get your mind off of this..." Cordelia abruptly grabbed her boyfriend and kissed him, hard.

Xander was indeed distracted as their bodies automatically came together, collapsing onto the motel room's couch. Gone were all thoughts concerning his half-sisters – for Xander, here and now, there was only the girl he had lost his virginity to. The girl he was fast falling in love with, as well.

"Wait, this isn't exactly...what I had in mind," Cordelia said breathlessly, feeling the bulge in her boyfriend's pants pressing against her. "Hey! Not now, dummy! We're expecting company, remember?"

"Yeah, honey, but are you sure we don't have time for a quickie?" Xander asked hopefully, his libido demanding to be satisfied.

What with her own hormones going into overdrive, Cordelia was actually tempted to ask Xander if he had a condom – but then there was a knock on the motel room door, and both teenagers quickly got off the couch, straightening their clothes and their hair.

"They're here! How do I look?" Xander asked worriedly.

"You look fine, for a complete and utter dweeb." Cordelia smiled as she said that, though, softening the insult. She then went and opened the door, seeing Paige and Phoebe standing outside.

Staring at the half-whitelighter, Cordelia exclaimed in surprise, "YOU! You're one of Xander's half-sisters?"

"Uh, no – technically, I'm not," Paige replied, as Piper and Prue joined her and Phoebe. Even though since she was a sister to the other three Charmed Ones, she and Xander did not have any DNA in common.

"Me, Piper and Phoebe are," Prue spoke up, examining the female teen. "And you are-?"

"Xander's girlfriend," Cordelia replied.

"Mind if we come in?" Piper asked, likewise staring at Cordelia.

"We promise not to bite," Phoebe said with a cheerful grin.

Even though it was broad daylight, and all four women had a healthy-looking tan, out of ingrained habit Cordelia merely gestured for the Charmed Ones to come in if they could, refusing to give a verbal invitation. Luckily, the witches didn't take offense and simply marched into the room.

"Uh, hi," Xander said nervously, staring at the four new arrivals. "My name's Xander. Xander Ha-, uh, no, it's Xander Bennett now, I guess," the male teen corrected himself.

"Hi. I'm Prue Halliwell," the oldest Charmed One introduced herself politely.

"Piper," the second oldest did likewise.

"Phoebe," said the third eldest sister with a wide smile.

"Paige," said the youngest Charmed One finished up.

"My name's Cordelia Chase. And I'm noticing a theme here, as in a lot of P names," Cordelia said frankly. "So, my boyfriend's dad mentioned you guys were witches or something?"

"Victor mentioned that, huh?" Prue briefly looked annoyed.

"You call him Victor, and not 'Dad'?" Xander asked curiously.

"The last time I did that was when I saw him walk out the front door, after promising he'd keep in touch. And that was twenty years ago," Prue shook her head. "And sure, I've learned why there's been so little contact – thanks to Grams tricking us into thinking he was a deadbeat dad – but still, trying to switch off those emotions, just like that? It's not that simple, unfortunately."

At that moment, Jessica and Victor knocked on the door, and joined the family reunion. Soon enough, everyone broke into small groups scattered around the motel room, as all sorts of topics were raised; both mundane and mystical.

"So you're a seer like me? Wow, that's so cool!" Phoebe said to Cordelia a while later, once they were alone in the corner.

"Uh, yeah, I guess," Cordelia admitted. "Especially around here, where it's like Demon Central 24/7."

Phoebe nodded absently, watching her newly-discovered sibling on the other side of the room talking with her dad and her half-sister. Then she turned to face Cordelia and said, "So, what's the deal with you and Xander?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he's kind of cute, even if he's a bit too young for my taste." Phoebe smirked at Cordelia's horrified expression, "He's my BROTHER, remember? Relax, I'm not gonna make a play for him!"

"Right." Cordy grimaced at falling for Phoebe's ploy. "Well, like I said when you guys first arrived, Xander's my boyfriend. No matter how much his two tweako friends hated learning that, after he confessed the truth to them yesterday."

"Oh, yeah, those people named Buffy and Willow. Xander sure seems to like them a lot," Phoebe said blandly, her half-brother had briefly mentioned those two while they were talking before.

Cordelia didn't fall for the ploy twice. "That's because one's the Slayer and the other's the closest thing he had to a sister, before discovering you guys," she said. "I'd be careful if I were you, when you finally meet them. Odds are the Wonder Twins will go into over-protectiveness mode straight off the bat."

"Over-protectiveness mode?"

Cordelia rolled her eyes. "They'll automatically assume you and your sisters are bad news, until proven otherwise. God, it's like those two think Xander's not allowed to be around any girl except them! Still, they kinda have a point – the guy's a demon magnet, you should see his record. Vampires, preying mantis substitute teacher, Inca Mummy Girl, just to name a few..."

Phoebe obviously wanted to know more, but just then Piper and Jessica joined them and the conversation took on a new direction. Miss Chase began to wave her arms around as she talked about Sunnydale, and how much she had grown to hate the place lately.

For their part, Prue and Xander went outside to the motel's enclosed pool area, as the male teen wanted a chance to talk privately with the oldest Charmed One. "So, have I done something to upset you? You, uh, you've seemed kinda down since the moment we met," Xander said hesitantly.

"No, it's not your fault," Prue shook her head. "It's just – Xander, I'm still trying to deal with Victor showing up again out of the blue, just like that."

"I think I know what you mean," Xander nodded. "When I found out my dad – no, make that my mother's ex-husband – had just taken off without so much as even leaving me a note, I found myself questioning a lot of things. Like whether he ever even loved me at all, abandoning me and my mom that way after finding out that I wasn't his son."

Prue winced; at least Victor hadn't been that much of a jerk. "I don't know what to say. Parents, huh?"

"Yeah, parents. Anyway, would you like to come with me tomorrow to help me buy Cordy something nice, for her birthday next month? Vic – uh, Dad gave me some money to splurge while he's in town."

"Okay, if you like. And it's serious between you and your girlfriend, huh?" Prue raised an eyebrow.

"I'm thinking yeah, definitely," Xander admitted, looking down. "She, uh..."

"What?"

"Cordy…she's been the harpy of my existence since we were in kindergarten, but somehow or other – Prue, she ended up being my first a few months back," Xander suddenly confessed in a big rush, there was just something about his half-sister which made him do it.

"Your first? Your first wha-" Prue suddenly got it. "Xander! You're barely 17 years old! And Cordelia's even younger than you are!" she scolded him.

"I know, but that's not my fault," the young man shrugged sheepishly. "I mean, Cordy's not the type of girl who takes 'no' for an answer on anything, and hey – I'm a teenage guy. Even looking at linoleum makes me want to have sex!"

Prue shuddered. "You've just reminded me of a horror story I once heard from my mom, what things were like while she and Victor were married – you really ARE his son!"

Whatever reply Xander would have made to that was destined by the fates never to be heard, as the rest of the group joined them in a rush. "I just had a vision thing," Cordelia said quickly, looking freaked.

"Yeah, me too, at the same time while I was touching her arm!" Phoebe added. "Wow, I never knew I could share someone else's visions like that!"

"Phoebe! Not now!" Piper said in irritation.

"What kind of vision was it?" Xander asked.

A nightmarish one, because Jasmine – who had been monitoring this gathering, and who had become extremely pissed over how all her plans had gone up in smoke – used her powers to bring Zankou to the Hellmouth, from just before he was vanquished by the Charmed Ones in the future.

And so, Cordelia's mystical warning came to pass – albeit far too soon to be of any use.

**Sunspot Motel pool area, Sunnydale, CA**

**A moment later**

The ground started to tremble, as if in the grip of an earthquake. As everyone started looking around in alarm, a white sphere of light came into existence not far from the edge of the pool – and lightning bolts started shooting out in all directions, as the good guys tried to take shelter from the barrage.

There was sheer chaos and pandemonium as the lightning smashed into various parts of the motel, damaging the exterior walls of some of the buildings. But eventually it stopped and the light dissipated to show a bearded man standing there, looking somewhat confused.

Someone that, to her horror, Cordelia recognized immediately.

Zankou. The one demon that even the Source of All Evil feared, the creature that had burned Kira alive in the future. He had just arrived here from May 2005, and even though he didn't recognize his surroundings, he did recognize quite a few of the people present.

"What the-? Now what are you doing here, sugar? I thought I killed you six months ago," Zankou said to Cordelia in confusion, before he saw who else was present.

"Who are you?" Prue demanded, as she stared at the new arrival.

"Never mind that, he's a demon! KILL HIM!" Miss Chase screamed in fear. "Before he kills us all!"

Zankou quickly figured out the gist of the situation as he sent an energy ball in Prue's direction, who just barely managed to duck out of the way as the Charmed Ones used the Power of Four to try to vanquish the upper-level demon – except it didn't work.

"You honestly didn't know, did you?" Zankou stared at his enemies in surprise. "You didn't have a clue how that wouldn't work. Interesting..."

The magical battle continued, even as Jessica, Victor, Cordelia and Xander took shelter behind one of the pavilions. "Cordy, we gotta do something!" Xander said to his girlfriend urgently. "Any ideas, or-or visions?"

Cordelia was still shaking in fear. "No, I…Xander, please, stay away from him! I don't know his name, but I've dreamed about that guy ever since we first made out in Buffy's basement! In my dream, he killed me – he burned me alive with his magic power..."

Just then, the four witches ended up unconscious and Zankou turned his attention to the woman he thought was his ex. "Kira, sugar, come out come out wherever you are!" He saw her hiding behind Xander, and growled viciously. "Don't MAKE me come get you..."

"You stay away from her, whoever the hell you are!" Victor roared, pushing everyone else behind him.

Zankou simply threw him into the nearest wall with a flick of his wrist, before doing the same thing to Xander's mother. Both adults entered dreamland immediately. The upper-level demon then turned and thought to himself, / Good. Now, as for you... /

Zankou sent an energy ball straight at Xander, who tried and failed to avoid it – but incredibly, the magical attack had no effect on the son of Victor Bennett. The energy ball simply blinked out of existence the moment it hit him. Another energy ball, and yet another, had no effect either.

"What's going on here?" Zankou cursed in disbelief, staring at Xander in amazement.

Nobody knew it yet, but thanks to what the junior Lord of the Host had managed to engineer in that Sunnydale hospital room, Xander was now the one human in the entire world who could no longer be affected by magic. At all. He was completely immune to everything; spells, potions, white or black magic, the lot.

It may not have sounded like much; but if you thought about it, it was actually one hell of a kick in the groin to people who were too dependent on the mojo, when dealing with an adversary.

"Looks like that's not gonna cut it with me," Xander said with a smile, not knowing what was going on but finally enjoying the benefits of his new power. "Come on, pal, let's settle this mano á mano – if you've got the balls for it." He put up his dukes after making a 'come-get-some' gesture.

"Xander, no!" Cordelia cursed, thinking this was SO not the time for her idiot boyfriend to act like some macho wannabe Slayer.

"Cordy, you get outta here!" Xander called back to her. "Just go, run!"

Zankou snarled in sheer rage, as he glanced at the young woman who had been his lover in a past life. "Is that what you're calling yourself now, Kira? No matter, I'll take care of you later..."

The bearded demon rushed forward, as Xander quickly realized there was no choice but to go on the attack. The fist fight started, and because he was hopeless at hand-to-hand combat, it took a while before Zankou got the upper hand. As he threw Xander aside after landing a low blow to the groin, the demon materialized an athame in one hand and grabbed Cordelia by the neck with the other, as the female teen had foolishly refused to run for it and leave Xander behind to die.

"Any last words, sugar?" Zankou smirked, as he raised the athame. "And no burning you alive this time. I already tried that with you before, and it didn't work out too well, did it?"

The bladed weapon started to come down. But at that moment, something within Cordelia Chase snapped. She yelled, "Get your damn hands OFF me!"

Without even realizing what she was doing, the young woman blasted the upper-level demon with an energy ball and blinked away, as more of Kira's powers suddenly surfaced.

Zankou was so surprised, he dropped the athame as the energy ball pushed him backwards. When she materialized again, Cordelia never hesitated. She grabbed the athame off the ground and started stabbing the upper-level demon viciously, and even though there was no blood – despite appearances, Zankou wasn't human – it weakened him greatly.

Xander looked up to see Cordy standing over Zankou as she shouted, "No one beats up on my boyfriend!" He then glanced over to the Charmed Ones, who had just woken up.

"Ughhh...the banishing incantation!" a still-groggy Prue called out to her three sisters.

"Natum adai necral, daya intay layok. Take him now, show him no mercy!" Prue and Piper and Phoebe and Paige shouted out, as the four sisters joined hands and Xander dragged Cordelia away.

"NO! NO!" Zankou screamed as his physical form started to blur, becoming indistinct like computer pixels – before there was a soundless explosion, and his remains were scattered to the four winds at supersonic speeds.

As Cordelia held her boyfriend tightly, she felt the oddest sense of satisfaction as the demon essence within her finally got its revenge upon Kira's murderer. "Xander, a-are you okay?" the young woman then asked.

"Me? I'll be fine," Xander replied, he was aching and bruised from the thrashing Zankou had just given him – but that didn't matter much, to his mind. / Yeah, I'll live...but why the hell did that guy call Cordy 'Kira'? And how the hell did she do what she just did? /

The male teen looked into his girlfriend's eyes and asked, "Cordelia, honey? Are YOU okay?"

"More or less, I think," Cordy shook her head as she almost sagged into his arms, and Xander held her close to prevent her falling down. "I'm feeling...well, it's kind of a head rush at the moment..."

"Well, just as long as you're okay," Xander shook his head. / Oh man, I know I've seen a lot since sophomore year, but still – this is gonna take some getting used to! And why the heck did those energy balls have no effect on me? Huh, I got a lot of questions that need answers here... /

Leo orbed in, and then he gaped as a very emotionally turbulent Cordelia started making out with Xander, given that the fight was over and she needed some serious boyfriend comfort right now. It quickly heated up to the point where the dark-haired girl looked like she was attempting to suck out her boyfriend's tonsils, not to mention wanting to rip off her clothes and straddle Xander like he was a wild stallion.

/ Good grief, / the whitelighter thought to himself as the semi-mating activity continued. / I know people are a lot more openly affectionate now than they were back in my day, but there's still a time and place for this sort of thing! /

"They get really aroused after fighting..." Phoebe said in wide-eyed wonder, wondering if she would ever find a soul mate like that for herself.

"Okay, I'd say that's enough," Prue called out to Xander and Cordelia, the young woman didn't want to think about what would happen if Victor and Jessica woke up right now. Unfortunately, the two teens paid utterly no attention to her.

Piper saw Cordy's hand slip into Xander's pants and down towards... "All right, come on, break it up! Hey, hey, don't make me use my freezing power on you two!"

"Would that even work on them?" Phoebe wondered, recalling what she had just seen Cordelia do. She was now rather suspicious of her brother's girlfriend, since she had seen the girl use demon powers against the enemy.

"Leo? When did you get here?" Paige demanded, as she spotted their whitelighter not far away and Cordelia finally let go of Xander.

"Barely five seconds ago," the whitelighter confessed. "Sorry I couldn't make it here any earlier..."

"Lemme guess. The Elders jingled?" Piper asked cynically, the question being purely rhetorical.

"What are you here to tell us, Leo?" Paige asked tiredly.

Leo turned to Cordelia. "Miss Chase, look, first off – I know all about your gift of second sight-"

"WHAT?! How the heck did you know about that, mister? Hey, have you been spying on me?!" Cordelia demanded angrily.

Leo shook his head. "No, Miss Chase. I was informed by the Elders about your seer abilities, and the other powers that you'll eventually manifest-"

"Other powers?" Xander interrupted at once, holding Cordelia's hand tightly.

"Energy balls, blinking in and out, that sort of thing," the whitelighter somewhat reluctantly confessed.

"Newsflash, Leo, she's already manifested them. And hey, I thought those were demon powers," Phoebe declared, looking at Cordelia oddly. Paige, Piper and Prue didn't say anything, even though they sent Cordelia exactly the same look.

"I know," the guardian angel said simply, staring at Cordelia. Looking at her on the inside, that is.

/ Still kinda hard for me to believe that that's the essence of a Hellraiser demon in there, / Leo thought to himself, referring to the colloquial name Kira's kind was known by. That demon species looked human and had precognitive abilities, even if Kira had been atypical in that she'd been very powerful psychically. But both the males and the females were very sexually active; which had caused all sorts of problems for them and everyone else in the past, hence the 'Hellraiser' nickname.

Still, be that as it may, Leo knew that he couldn't reveal the truth regarding Cordelia's powers to her yet. Not for some years, in fact, until the girl was a lot more grown up. The whitelighter had been informed of the Elders' plan; which was that once her supernatural abilities surfaced fully, Cordelia would be moulded into a great force for good, after she and Xander were 'guided' into relocating to San Francisco.

The Hellmouth was no place to get married after high school and raise a family, after all.

"Still, Miss Chase, the fact that you have such powers doesn't mean that you're a demon; it's because someone in your family line must have been a demon," Leo explained, stretching the truth a little just for convenience.

/ I've got some demon ancestry? Ewww! / Cordelia thought to herself in disgust, before staring at Xander. / And wait a minute! Is that why I've fallen head over heels for someone I used to despise? That whole 'demon magnet' thing Willow and Buffy once mentioned? /

"And it's not even all that surprising, considering the company that Miss Chase and Alexander keep. Buffy Summers is a vampire Slayer and Willow Rosenberg is a self-taught witch, after all," the whitelighter explained to his charges, focusing back on the matter at hand.

Paige's eyes went wide at the mention of the Chosen One; she knew how that particular individual was mentioned in detail within the Book of Shadows. "You two are friends with a SLAYER?"

"That's right," Xander said to her.

"Unbelievable," the half-whitelighter muttered to herself, figuring she needed to update the entry on how the Slayer worked all alone in secret.

"So, just outta interest, can you tell us who that demon was which we just vanquished? I mean, he seemed to know us – and he must have been an upper-level demon, since the Power of Four didn't work on him," Prue wanted to know.

Leo explained that the demon's name was Zankou, and that he wasn't sure what exactly was going on – because as far as he and his bosses knew, Zankou was currently locked up in a mystical prison by the Source. "My best guess is that he must have arrived here from the future, somehow. So, eventually, you'll be meeting Zankou again-"

"And why did he call me 'Kira'?" Cordelia interrupted.

"Apparently, the guy used to be involved with a Hellraiser demon – and he must have mistaken you for his former lover, Miss Chase," Leo said briefly.

"Oh! I've read about them in the Book of Shadows!" Paige then explained that the demon species' real name was actually unknown, but they had been nicknamed Hellraisers because of all the sex they engaged in with whoever was the most convenient. This caused Cordelia to shudder briefly, recalling her dreams about the now-deceased Zankou from a now-defunct timeline.

"What the hell is going on?" Victor said groggily, as he and Jessica finally woke up.

"Mom? Dad? You guys okay?" Xander asked worriedly, as everyone went over to his parents.

"I'm fine," Victor brushed off the concern, before spying Leo a short distance away. "Hi, um, who are you?"

"I'm Leo Wyatt, sir. I'm, uh..." Leo said hesitantly.

"He's our whitelighter," Piper informed her father succinctly.

"Oh," Victor immediately scowled. The scowl would have been lot worse if he'd known that his little girl was romantically involved with the guy, but Leo and Piper were keeping that a secret, and hoping like hell that no one ever found out. Least of all, the Elders...

"Dad, come on! This is nothing like what happened between Mom and Sam!" Piper lied to her father without a second thought.

"She's right. Just my opinion, but you can't blame this guy for what happened between Paige's father and your ex-wife," Xander said to his father firmly. "I mean, that's – something-ism!"

Still looking unhappy, Victor reluctantly agreed with his son before saying, "Jess, are you sure you're okay?"

"Well, I do have a big headache," the red-haired woman confessed, still trying to come to grips with everything she'd learned about the real world since yesterday.

"That's it, I'm taking you to a hospital," Victor said straightaway. Paige was about to volunteer to heal her, but then she recalled what the Elders had said Up There; and she decided that maybe they had a point, as the two adults said their goodbyes and Xander and Cordelia accompanied them to Sunnydale General.

Although, true to form, before they left Cordy promised to take Paige shopping the next day – since the half-whitelighter was wearing a truly horrible outfit, in Miss Chase's not-so-humble opinion...

**Sunnydale General Hospital, Sunnydale, CA**

**A while later**

Xander heaved a sigh of relief, as his mother was given the all-clear by the doctor. "So, it's okay for us to take her home?"

"Yes," Dr. Wilkinson replied, sending Xander a funny look. She still found it rather suspicious that the former coma patient was now walking around in perfect health, but she had been in Sunnydale long enough to know when to look the other way and not pursue questions whose answers simply couldn't fit into her blinkered little world-view. Then the female M.D. added, "There's no significant trauma to speak of, just a lump on the head. Your mother was very lucky, though, actually. The damage could have been much worse."

"Well, thank you for everything you've done. And if there's no concussion or anything like that, then I guess I ought to go home and get some rest. Oh, could I have something for my headache?" Jessica asked.

"Of course," Dr. Wilkinson made a note on her sheet of paper, which she handed over to the red-haired woman. "Just show that to one of the nurses, and she'll get you some painkillers."

"Thank you," Jessica said gratefully, as the doctor nodded and left.

"Jess, can I take you home?" Victor asked, looking concerned.

Xander's mother hesitated. She looked at her son and said, "Alexander, will you be coming home as well?"

"Uh, actually, if Vic- if Dad can stay with, to look after you for tonight? Cordy and I need to have a serious talk, mom. In private," Xander said hesitantly.

"I'll stay with her, son. It's not a problem, that's fine," Victor said hurriedly. He gave his son a brief, tentative hug, and then escorted Jessica to the door. Before he exited the room, though, Victor said to Xander, "You've got my cell number – call me if you need anything, okay?"

"I will," the male teen promised him, as his father then vanished out the door.

"Whew. What a day," Cordelia said, plopping down on the hospital bed.

"You said it, honey," Xander agreed with his girlfriend. He then looked up at her. "How you holding up?"

"What? Well, how do you THINK I'm holding up?" Cordy snapped at him. "My worst nightmare literally came to life, I learn that someone in my family's a demon, and to top it all off, I end up with a bunch of freaky new powers after both of us nearly got killed! So you tell me, dummy – just how well should I be expected to be holding up, under these particular circumstances?"

"Not too well, I guess. Although at least you don't have to deal with Buffy and Willow, and them looking at me the way they did. I mean, after they heard about you and me? Slay-gal just got this huge look of disappointment on her face, and the Will-ster was staring at me like I'd been unmasked as the Unabomber or something," Xander grunted.

"Well, I don't know if you want to hear this – but quite frankly, Xander? Big whoop," Cordelia said unsympathetically. "Seriously, you goofhead – I know they're important to you, that's like obvious to everyone in the sighted community. But I have a bigger claim on you now than they do, so they're just gonna have to deal with the fact that we're together. And seriously, if they have a problem with me as your girlfriend? Tell them to come talk to ME about it, instead of you. Five bucks says they'll shut up straightaway, because the double standards crap those two pull on you is gonna cut zero ice with me!"

Xander stared at her curiously. "Double standards?"

"Well, think about it! One only has eyes for a freaking vampire, a walking corpse – and the other got involved with some sorta insane-o demon robot? So where the hell do either Buffy or Willow get off on accusing you of sinking to their level, by getting involved with ME?"

/ Huh. / Xander stared at the ground, trying to work through his girlfriend's argument in his mind. He hated to admit it, but when you looked at it that way – his two best buds didn't exactly come off in the best possible light. / I know it's not that simple, sure – 'cause neither Will nor the Buffster have ever liked Cordy, and vice versa – but I guess my girlfriend does have a point. It's MY life, and I can't let anyone else live it for me. /

"All right. You got a deal," Xander said slowly. "If either Buffy or Willow start getting out of hand about 'us', I'll tell them to come see you and let you guys sort it out between yourselves. That okay with you, Cor?"

"Yeah. Now shut up and kiss me," Cordelia smirked at her significant other.

Xander shrugged and did so. The kiss quickly turned hotter and the passion between them began to skyrocket, though, as those teenage hormones started flowing and Cordelia's demonic sex drive got all worked up.

Sometimes, like now, the young woman honestly felt that she couldn't control herself with her boyfriend any longer. And she didn't know it yet, but the day would come when Cordy would learn that with a mate of the Hellraiser demon, the mate's long-term presence totally sent the need to engage in coitus into overdrive. Nothing mattered, apart from the sex...

Which went a long way to explaining why both of them ended up moaning and panting, their clothes scattered all over the floor and their naked, undulating bodies bouncing up and down on top of that hospital bed.

**Sunnydale Mall, Sunnydale, CA**

**December 13, 1997**

"So, Christmas is coming up in a couple of weeks. Xander, do you think you and your mom will be spending it with Victor?"

Paige's question just made Xander groan, though. "With all the stuff Cordelia bought that I'm carrying? I'll be lucky if I don't spend Christmas in the hospital, after totally throwing my back out!"

The Chase girl gave him a whack on the arm. "Shut up! I mean, I haven't bought that much stuff today..."

"Oh, really? YOU carry some of these bags, then," Xander groaned again.

"Why should I? As my boyfriend, that's YOUR job," she retorted. Then she sighed. "All right, fine. Go sit over there on the bench, while Paige and I talk," Cordy ordered him imperiously. "And since this is gonna be a private conversation, don't try to eavesdrop."

"Private conversation? About what?" Xander wanted to know.

"Girl stuff," Paige nodded. She could guess where Cordelia was going with this – she wasn't that much older than Queen C, after all.

Xander just shrugged and nodded, and then wearily slouched off to gratefully collapse onto the closest mall bench, and lower all of his girlfriend's bags to the ground. Cordelia saw him do it and muttered, "Oh, please! I know for a fact he's got a lot more stamina than that, the big drama queen..."

"You love him, don't you?"

Paige's question had totally blindsided her, and an open-mouthed Cordelia turned to stare at the half-whitelighter. "Huh? What do you...?"

"Prue told me that you two are sleeping together, Xander confided in her about it yesterday. And since I know for a fact that you're not a slut, that leaves only the L-word territory. And yet, you're not together openly yet?" Paige asked.

Cordelia tried to get her mental balance back as she said, "No, I guess not. Still, now that Buffy and Willow know, I'm sure it's gonna be all over school on Monday morning. So I was wondering how I'm going to deal with the fallout..."

"And you wanted my advice?" Paige shrugged. "Sorry, but my experience with the American high school system is pretty limited. My sisters and I attended Magic School, after all."

"So what was that like?"

"Kids are kids and school is school, so I'm guessing...not too different from what you've experienced in your life so far. You had your popular kids and your geeks, your jocks and your know-it-all's. It's just that there were different rules relating to magic and its use, and I had to have some private lessons Up There once my whitelighter abilities manifested," Paige scowled.

"Sounds like there's a story there," Cordelia commented, seeing the expression on the other woman's face.

"You have NO idea," Paige replied, her expression growing angry. "I swear, half the time, it felt like the Elders were pissing me off on purpose! Don't do this, Paige. That's not allowed, Paige. You have to think before acting, Paige. Urrgghh!"

Cordelia smirked, and then her eyes widened as she saw Paige's sisters approaching. "Well, this is unexpected..."

"Paige! Cordelia! Hi," Phoebe said cheerfully, holding a couple of shopping bags in her hands. "I didn't think we'd find you guys so quickly."

"Oh, please! You had that premonition that we'd be bumping into both them and Xander, here and now, and you know it," Piper rebuked her.

"Really?" Prue asked, lifting her eyebrows.

"Hey, it's not personal gain if it's helping out family," Phoebe protested. She and Prue had often butted heads about what was an appropriate use of their witch powers in the past, and she didn't want to get into the same old arguments with her big sister again. "Anyway, I-"

But just then, an earthquake started.

The ground started to shake and rumble, and Cordelia for one instantly knew something was wrong. She had experienced enough SoCal quakes to be sure. The earthquake got worse and some structural damage started to occur, as Xander joined the five women. He said urgently, "Hey, come on, come on! We need to get in a doorway, or something-"

Something burst up from the ground in front of them, surrounded in red light. It had two enormous horns on top of its head; a demon whose hide looked like it was made of rocky lava. It hauled itself out of the ground, growling and looking around as if in search of its prey.

"You," the Beast growled, looking straight at Xander. "My master has decreed that you MUST die..."

"Over my dead body!" Cordelia shouted as he shoved Xander behind her, before throwing an energy ball at the Beast. It had no effect on Rocky, however, who shrugged it off as completely inconsequential.

"You are of no interest to me," the Beast told her, and mindful of its master's instructions not to harm the Mother, forcefully strode towards its target.

"I don't think so," Piper said roughly, and tried to blow up the Beast with her power. Again, the eight-foot-tall demon shrugged off the attack like it was totally irrelevant, only having eyes for its assigned target.

The Beast's arrival had not gone unnoticed, of course, and the mall patrons had instantly screamed and run for it, once the demon had started hauling itself out of the ground. Only the mall's rent-a-cops and security guards dared approach the Beast, and of them, only one was brave enough – and new enough to Sunnydale that he didn't know the unspoken and unwritten rules – to draw his gun and open fire.

Annoyed by the stinging bullets, the Beast turned and leaped across the mall in one huge jump, landing directly in front of the guard – before grabbing him by the neck and twisting it savagely. Not looking at the corpse, or even at the rest of the mall's security people as they quickly ran for their lives, the Beast turned around and locked his gaze upon Xander once more.

/ The boy must die, / the Beast thought to itself, as its huge, hoofed feet marched back towards the white hats. / As my master willed it, so it must be! /

Unfortunately for the Beast, the Charmed Ones had other ideas. They grabbed each other's hands and chanted, "The Power of Four will free us forever more! The Power of Four will free us forever more!"

For the first time EVER, the Beast looked afraid as it found itself trapped and unable to move. It couldn't even generate a portal to escape to another dimension. "No...this cannot be!"

"The Power of Four will free us forever more! The Power of Four will free us forever more!" Prue, Piper, Phoebe and Paige chanted, as the Beast's massive frame started to shudder.

Suddenly, the Beast screamed in agony as it started to glow yellow and cracks appeared in its rocky skin. The yellow light shot upwards, through the mall skylight and into the sunny morning sky, and all that remained of the supposedly-invincible demon was just bits and pieces, a pile of slightly steaming rocks.

"That's it. I am NEVER going to shop at this mall again, for as long as I live," Cordelia declared fiercely, wrapping her arms around her boyfriend. She looked him right in the eye and said, "From now on? I'm taking you with me to Rodeo Drive, whenever I need a pack mule to carry my bags!"

She plunged her lips onto Xander's, and never even noticed when the Cleaners showed up, to erase just about everyone's memories of what had happened here...

**A different dimension**

**The same time**

Jasmine cursed as her insectile body skittered around the cave on automatic pilot. It was lucky for Skip that he wasn't here, or else she would have killed him out of sheer frustration.

/ It didn't work, / the fallen Power thought to herself angrily. / My attempt at revenge for my plans being foiled failed. Neither Zankou nor the Beast were successful, and it is too late to send another assassin to finish the job now. Both the Elders and the other Powers That Be will have been alerted by the Cleaners on what has happened; and so they will take preventative measures that will expose both me and my designs, if I send anyone else. /

With a sigh, the rogue PTB finally accepted how she had lost this battle and began to make new plans. / Doubtless, that damned mortal will impregnate my chosen vessel sooner rather than later; so better to cut my losses now, and simply move on. Try again, with a new Mother and another set of Grandparents. Still, if the opportunity should ever come up, I will take advantage of it to kill that male worm who ruined everything! And my would-have-been mother as well. I bred her for a specific purpose, so how DARE she try to avoid her blessed destiny? /

**Another realm of existence, outside time and space as we know it**

The bald man in the brown robe turned to his companion and said, "It is all but over now. Wouldn't you say, brother?"

"Indeed," the other bald man in the brown robe nodded. "My compliments, brother; your actions have aided the side of Light more drastically than I ever thought imaginable. Four Charmed Ones, a seer and a magic nullifier, who soon enough will all battle the forces of evil side by side. The Creator itself will no doubt be most pleased."

The junior Lord of the Host simply smiled enigmatically. He liked praise as much as any other higher being, and looked forward to seeing what the outcome of his work would be.

"However, there is a problem," the senior Lord of the Host then frowned. "That rogue Power still exists, instead of being utterly destroyed. In a few centuries, brother, she will attempt to stir up trouble all over again."

"I know, brother; but I have taken that into account. The descendants of the seer and her consort will deal with her, when the time comes," the junior Lord of the Host proclaimed.

He already knew how that event promised to be very...exciting for the people in question, no doubt about it. "It should be quite spectacular to witness, too."

The End


End file.
